Privacy Policy - Updated

1. Introduction and General TermsEscape is committed to protecting your personal information when you are using Escape services. We want our services to be safe and enjoyable environments for our audience. This Privacy Policy relates to our use of any personal information you provide to us through escapestudios.com websites.

In order to provide you with the full range of Escape services, we are sometimes required to collect information about you.

This privacy policy explains the following:

What information Escape may collect about you;

How Escape will use information we collect about you;

When Escape may use your details to contact you;

Whether Escape will disclose your details to anyone else;

Your choices regarding the personal information you have provided to us;

The use of cookies on Escape websites and how you can reject these cookies.

As set out above, Escape is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all laws concerning the protection of personal information, including the Data Protection Act 1998 (these laws are referred to collectively in this Privacy Policy as the "data protection laws").

The website contains hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, including cookies, and we urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit or are collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.

2. What information will Escape collect about me?When you sign up to participate in or receive a service from any Escapestudios.com website, such as newsletters, competitions, live chats, message boards or register with the single universal online registration system used across different parts of escapestudios.com called "Single Sign-On", we may ask for personal information about you. This can consist of information such as your name, e mail address, postal address, telephone or mobile number or date of birth. Different webpages may ask for different personal information.

By entering your details in the fields requested, you enable Escape and its service providers to provide you with the services you select.

Please note that sometimes on particular webpages we will require you to provide additional personal information, and sometimes sensitive personal information. When we do this we will specify further on these webpages why we are collecting your information and how we will use it.

Escape also uses cookies (see paragraph 12 below for details) and collects IP addresses (an IP address is a number that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet). We use analysis software to look at IP addresses and cookies for the purpose of enhancing your user experience.

We also use your IP address to determine whether you are accessing the services from the UK or not. If not, you may see different information to our UK site (see paragraph 11 for details.)

3. How will Escape use the information they collect about me?Escape will use your personal information for a number of purposes including the following:

for "service administration purposes", which means that Escape may contact you for reasons related to the service you have signed up for, as set out in paragraph 4 below (e.g. to provide you with password reminders or to notify you that a particular service has been suspended for maintenance);

to contact you about a submission you have made to the websites, including any content you provide.

to personalise the way Escape content is presented to you.

IP addresses are used to identify the location of users, the number of visits from different countries and also to block disruptive use; and

to analyse and improve the services offered on Escapestudios.com. e.g. to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience.

Where Escape proposes using your personal information for any other uses we will ensure that we notify you first. You will also be given the opportunity to withhold or withdraw your consent for your use other than as listed above.

4. When will Escape contact me?Escape may contact you:

in relation to the functioning of any service you have signed up for in order to ensure that Escape can deliver the services to you;

where you have not opted out of receiving further correspondence;

in relation to any contribution you have made to Escapestudios.com, e.g. on Escape message boards;

to invite you to participate in surveys about Escape services (participation is always voluntary); and

for marketing purposes where you have not specifically declined this (see paragraph 5 below)

5. Will I be contacted for marketing purposes?Escape won't contact you for marketing purposes, or promote new services to you if you specifically ask not to be contacted for these purposes.

6. Will Escape share my personal information with anyone else?We will keep your information confidential except where disclosure is required or permitted by law (for example to government bodies and law enforcement agencies) or as described in paragraph 7 below. Generally, we will only use your information within Escape. However, sometimes Escape uses third parties to process your information. Escape will require these third parties to comply strictly with its instructions and Escape will require that they do not use your personal information for their own business purposes. If you purchase or sign-up to a non-Escape product or service which is affiliated with another company we may give your information to this company but this will be clearly stated on the product or service.

7. Offensive or inappropriate content on Escape websiteIf you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content anywhere on or to Escapestudios.com, or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on Escapestudios.com, Escape may use your personal information to stop such behaviour.

Where Escape reasonably believes that you are or may be in breach of any of the laws of England or Wales (e.g. because content you have posted may be defamatory), Escape may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your employer, school e-mail/Internet provider or law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.

8. What if I am a user aged 16 or under?If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent/guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information to Escape's website. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

9. How long will Escape keep my personal information?We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant service, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with Escape. In the case that you wish to cancel your registration as a Escapestudios.com member, once an account is deleted a red flag goes on the database and, while people cannot use the personal information, it stays on the system for administration purposes before being deleted automatically.

Where you contribute to Escapestudios.com Escape will generally only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted. For example, Escape will only keep copies of entries to a photographic competition for the duration of the competition. However other projects (e.g. Escape knowledge base) are likely to have a longer, or even permanent, duration.

Some content submitted to or shared with Escape may be retained for prolonged periods of time or potentially indefinitely in Escape's Archive, which is true of Forums contributions which are published. There may also be rare instances where we will share your contribution with third parties(e.g. contributions about people's experiences in a Visual Effect Conference were given to the Visual Effects conference in question). Where possible, we will endeavour to inform you upfront or let you know at a later date where we are likely to keep content indefinitely.

10. Can I find out what personal information Escape holds about me?Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to request a copy of the personal information Escape holds about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. (We charge £10 for information requests and will require you to prove your identity with 2 pieces of approved photographic identification.) We will use reasonable efforts to supply, correct or delete personal information about you on our files.

Please address requests and questions about this or any other question about this Privacy Policy to the Escape Studios Data Protection Officer.

11. Changes to Escape's Privacy PolicyThis privacy policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to any Escapestudios.com website. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page.

12. Cookies Policy -Information Escape collects from you

a. What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small file, typically of letters and numbers, that is sent to your computer or mobile phone (referred to here as a "device") from a website's computer and is stored on your device's hard drive. Cookies allow a website to recognise a user’s device.

Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it. Many sites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track online traffic flows.

b. What do cookies do?

Cookies record information about your online preferences and allow us to tailor the websites to your interests. Users have the opportunity to set their devices to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these means that certain personalised services cannot then be provided to that user and accordingly you may not be able to take full advantage of all of the features of escapestudios.co.uk and escapestudios.com (“our websites”). Each browser is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences. For more information on cookies you can also visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

During the course of any visit to our websites, the pages you see, along with a cookie, are downloaded to your device. Many websites do this, because cookies enable website publishers to do useful things like find out whether the device (and probably its user) has visited the website before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking to see, and finding, the cookie left there on the last visit.

c. How does Escape use cookies?

Information supplied by cookies can help us to analyse the profile of our visitors and help us to provide you with a better user experience. For example: if on a previous visit you went to our School pages, we might find this out from your cookie and highlight school information on your second and subsequent visits.

Escape also use a number of independent measurement and research companies. They gather information regarding the visitors to our websites on our behalf using cookies, log file data and code which is embedded on our website. Escape use this type of information to help improve the services it provides to its users. Certain other areas of our websites may use cookies for a specific reason - for example, to help online media work effectively on your device.

d. How do I allow or disable cookies?

The default policy of this website is to ‘allow all cookies’ to continue to give you the best experience. By continuing to use our site you are deemed to consent implicitly to our use of cookies as set out in this policy, or to accept / reject this policy at any time please use the corner widget at the bottom of the page.

All popular browsers have the option to disable cookies. Information on how to disable cookies can be found on the software publishers help pages & documentation. Guidance on disabling cookies can also be found here http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/.

Please note that if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including functional cookies) you may not be able to access all or part of our site.

e. What cookies do Escape use?

The following table sets out which cookies Escape uses, their purpose, how intrusive they may be considered and, where applicable, from where more information can be found.

If you have any questions about the following information please contact us at info@escapestudios.com and mark your email for the attention of the Escape Studios Data Protection.

Cookie Name

Type / Purpose

Information Collected

Additional Information

__utma, __utmb, __utmz

Google Analytics persisent cookie

These cookies allow us to count page visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site, using a service provided by Google Analytics.

We use a number of social media tools to enhance visitor interaction on our site. If you already use these platforms their cookies may be set through our website. Data may then be collected by these companies that enables them to serve up adverts on other sites that they think are relevant to your interests. If you do not use such platforms then our site will not place these cookies on your device.

Please visit the Privacy Policy of Twitter for more information https://twitter.com/privacy

Please visit the Privacy Policy of Facebook for more information: www.facebook.com/about/privacy/

Please visit the Privacy Policy of Google for more information www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/